Planned Solutions Inc. Makes New $88,000 Investment in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,025 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SCCO. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 80,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,075,000 after acquiring an additional 5,296 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 687,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,854,000 after acquiring an additional 102,286 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 89,468 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,736,000 after purchasing an additional 16,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Southern Copper by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 51,747 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,426,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Price Performance

SCCO stock opened at $104.34 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $80.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 2.46. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.89. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $64.66 and a 1 year high of $106.92.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 30.85% and a net margin of 24.51%. Research analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.83.

About Southern Copper

Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, and Chile. The company is involved in the mining, milling, and flotation of copper ore to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates; smelting of copper concentrates to produce blister and anode copper; refining of anode copper to produce copper cathodes; production of molybdenum concentrate and sulfuric acid; production of refined silver, gold, and other materials; and mining and processing of zinc, copper, molybdenum, silver, gold, and lead.